Safe construction.



T. S. SPIVEY.

vSAFE CONSTRUCTION.

APPLIGATION FILED 00T. 7, 1907.

903,800. Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

UNITED STATES .PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS S. SPIVEY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO VICTOR SAFE &.LOCK COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

SAFE CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

Application filed October 7, 1907. Serial No. 396,163.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, Ti-roims S. SPIVEY, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Cincinnati, Hamilton county, State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safe Construction; and I do declare the following to be a clear, full, and exact description of the invention, attention being called to the accompanying drawing, with the reference characters marked thereon, which form also a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the construction of safes, the object being to increase their security against unauthorized and forcible access.

The improvements are shown as applied to a safe provided with a circular door which is fitted into a door-opening with a correspondingly shaped jamb. A screw-connection is generally used to hold such doors seated in their opening for which purpose they are supported to be axially rotatable and the improvements are shown as applied to safes having such doors.

This particular type of safes is generally known as a screw-door safe and of late body and door of such safes are made each of a solid casting of a non-machineable metal, which feature however has not necessarily any bearing upon my invention.

In the following specication and particularly pointed out in the claims at the end thereof, will be found a full description of my invention, together with its operation, parts and construction, which latter is also illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1, is a side-elevation of such a safe with parts broken away, the door being shown in side-view, and seated in its opening in the front-wall of the safe-body which is shown in section. Fig. 2, is a side-view of the door detached, part of the same and its manipulating means being shown in section. F ig. 3, is a front-view of the safe with parts of the door being broken away.

A, is the body of the safe, and a, is the front-wall thereof which is provided with a circular opening into which the door B, is fitted. The edge of the door is tapering and j amb to which it is fitted is shaped correspondingly. Means like a screw-connection are presumed to be used for keeping the door seated in its j amb and which require rotation of the door, to seat or unseat it. The complementary parts of this connection are provided, one O, on the door, and the other c, in the door-opening back of jamb ZJ. The door, to enable it to enter or leave its screw-seat, must be rotated, for which purpose a journal D, is provided on its front-side, which is fitted for support into a bearing constituted by a circular frame d, in a manner to be free for rotation therein. This door-bearing is carried on a crane-frame E, supported by hinges e, on the front-wall of the safe and by means of which frame the door is swung into or out of its opening. The door may be rotated in its bearing in either one of these positions to effect engagement, or disengagement, as the case may be, of the complementary parts of its screw-connection. Rotation is accomplished by means of a set of gearwheels, the larger one E, of which is rigidly secured to the door, a boss f, being provided upon which it is mounted, the smaller one, a pinion Gr, being supported on circular frame (l. A cover H, incloses these parts with eX- ception of a shaft g, on pinion G, which projects through the same and permits application of a crank for operation of the geartrain, to seat or unseat the door.

The door is locked in its closed position by sliding bolts J, which when projected into corresponding sockets prevent its rotation for unscrewing, and which are actuated in the usual way by a lever mechanism controlled by a time-lock which is contained in a casing y'. Although such a door is ground to its seat on j amb b, with a perfect, practically air-tight fit, efforts have nevertheless been made to introduce liquid explosive-matter between the two, sufficient space having been forced by suitable implements like a peening tool, or by hammerblows directed against the front of the safe close to the edge of the door-opening which would cause the metal thereat to bulge and force it out of shape until a gap of a size, sufficient for the purpose, was produced. My object is to prevent use of such expedients at that place, by -covering the joint where door and front-wall of the Vsafe meet, by a member which covers this joint, and also portions of the metal on adjacent sides, so that efforts to enter this joint, or to distort the metal adjacent to it, by hammerblows would be useless, since the intended spot cannot be reached. This interposed member consists of a shield K, provided on the outer side of the safe-door and projecting also over the edge of the same, so as to cover the crevice at the joint where dooredge and jamb come together. This projec tion is not merely suiiicient for this purpose however, but it is extended to cover also a Zone of the surface of the safe-body around the edge of the door, so that the metal so covered cannot be reached by implements, or be acted upon in any manner. 'Ihis shield is suitably attached to the safe-door, as for instance by being shrunk onto the journal D. Or screw connected means like bolts or screws L, may be used to secure shield K in position.

If the body of the door is of non-machineable metal, inserts of workable metal Z, are

provided to receive these screws. In addition to this, the position of shield K, and its connection to the door-body, is still further secured, by provision of an annular recess 7c, in the front side of the safe and around the outer edge of the door-opening, into which the overlapping part of the shield extends and which it fills, the thickness of this shield being such that it also projects beyond this recess and above the frontside of the safe. rlhe effect of this arrangement, in addition to its function stated, is that the joint between door and safe-body does not extend inwardly on a straight, unbroken line, and furthermore access to the inner edge and under side of shield K, for the purpose of prying vit off from the door-body, or of separating it therefrom in any manner, is rendered impossible since this inner edge of shield K is covered by the overlapping metal of the frontwall of the safe-body. More security is added by recessing shield K, on its outer side as shown at 7, and by fitting frame d, into the same, so that similar advantages are imparted at this point, 4that is absence of a straight joint where these two members, shield K, and frame (l, come to gether whereby their separation is prevented by insertion of means between them, or in any other manner. Still more security is added by repeating the same relative arrangement between frame cl, and gear-wheel F, the former being recessed as shown at 8, for reception of part of the gear-wheel, so that separation of these two members, by introduction of implements between them, is also prevented or rendered diiiicult.

AGrear-wheel F, is rigidly secured upon the door in any manner or by screws 9, similar to the screw-connection before described for shield K.

It will be seen now that the door-joint is not only covered, but adjacent surfaces on either side and particularly on the safebody, are also covered and protected against attacks in the manner indicated.

By recessing the various superposed parts involved in this construction into each other as shown, shield K, into the safe-body, frame d, j into the shield and gear-wheel F, into frame el, the additional security which it was the object to obtain is provided.

Shield K, and gear-wheel F, are both rigidly secured to the door and rotate with the saine, while confining it also in position on frame d, which is closely fitted into the space between them and supports the door.

Having described my invention, I claim as new:

1. In a safe, the combination of the safebody provided with a circular opening in its front-wall, a door fitted to the same, means whereby it is kept seated in its opening, and the operation of which means involves rotation of the door, a frame in which the same is supported in a manner to permit such rotation, and a shield in form of a circular plate connected to the door so as to be between its front-side and the frame mentioned, said shield being of a thickness sufiin cient to closely fill the space between door and frame and of a diameter so as to project all around beyond the edge of the door so as to cover a part of the surface of the frontwall of the safe-body which surrounds the door-opening.

Q. In a safe, the combination of the safebody provided with a circular opening in its front-wall, a door fitted to the same, means whereby it is kept seated in its opening, and the operation of which means involves rotation of the door, a journal projecting from the front-side of this door, a frame into which this ournal is fitted for rotation and which supports t-he door, and a shield which is shrunk onto the journal between the frontside of the door and its supporting frame and which extends beyond the edge of the door sufficiently to cover also a portion of the front-wall of the safe around the opening therein.

3. In a safe, the combination of the body provided with a circular opening in its front-wall, a door fitted to this opening and provided with a ournal which projects from its front, and with a boss which extends from this journal, means whereby the door is kept seated in its opening, and the operation of which meansinvolves rotation of the door, a shield on the outside of the door, a frame outside of this shield into which the journal of the door is fitted for rotation and which supports the door, and a gear-wheel rigidly mounted on the boss outside of this frame, the superposed parts mentioned over-lapping each other, and the shield overlapping the safe-body around the edge of the opening therein, and means to operate the gear-wheel to rotate the same with the door.

4. In a safe, the combination of the body provided with a eircular-door-opening in its front-wall, a door fitted to this opening and provided with a journal which projects from its front and With .a boss Which extends from this journal, ineans whereby the door is kept seated in its opening, and the operation of which means involves rotation of the door7 a shield on the outside of the door of a size sufficient to project beyond the edge of the saine, and overlapping also a part of the outside of the safe-body around the dooropening, a frame provided against the outside of this shield into which the journal of the door is tted for rotation and Which supports the door, and a gear-Wheel rigidly mounted on the boss and seated against the outside of this frame, the superposed overlapping parts being also recessed into eaeh other and the projecting edge of the shield being recessed into the metal of the safebody which surrounds the door-opening.

In testimony Wherof I hereunto affix Iny signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

THOMAS S. SPIVEY.

Witnesses C. SPENEGEL, T. LE BEAN. 

